andygoodliff

Pilate, Blair and the question of truth

Have just finished watching the second episode of the BBC2 documentary Blair: The Inside Story and it reminded of the end of Sam Wells' chapter on Pilate in his lent book Power and Passion (which I'm reading through lent). Wells' writes

Pilate's world is not as far from today's world as it may at first appear. What they have in common is that truth is a difficult thing to talk about. On a famous occasion, one of Tony Blair's aides intercepted a telling question to the British prime minister with the unforgetable words "We don't do God." In other words, please don't dig down to the truth issues ....

I can't make my mind up about Tony Blair. You see in the man (as I perceive him through his appearances on the media) someone generally trying to do the right thing (as he frequently tells us), but I think issues of truth and with that, confession and repentance, are sadly missing, as he tries to continually convince us that he is right and is doing the right thing. Truth and politics have been divorced. Wells suggests we operate with an instrumental notion of truth, where all that matters is getting to the next place, without ever thinking what the final place is. (So with Iraq, it was all about removing Saddam without thinking what happened next). 

introducing hauerwas

theologian. christian ethicist. pacifist. methodist. texan. american. professor of theological ethics at duke university since 1984. challenges religious platitudes. PhD in christian ethics from yale. DD from edinburgh. gifford lecturer at st. andrew's. was called america's best theologian by Time magazine in 2001. his book a community of character was named one of the 100 most important books on religion of the 20th century. taught at the university of notre dame from 1970-84. born in 1940. prolific, provocative and a polemicist. critic of american politics and morality. prophetic. author of over 22 books and of numerous articles. son of a bricklayer. fan of john howard yoder and pope john paul II. accused of being a sectarian. father and husband. 'shy of the thorough systematic ordering of theology' (wells, transforming fate into destiny, 1998). his theological journey moves from quandary to character, character to story, story to community, and finally from community to church (according to wells, transforming fate). believes the virtues and narrative are important for christian ethics. has written on a diverse range of topics from sex, abortion, war, disability, homosexuality, punishment, the family, courage, old age, postmodernity, worship, watership down, suffering, bonhoeffer, the church, non-violent terrorism, the bible, barth, september 11, and Jesus. he says 'I have never sought to justify Christian withdrawal from social and polictical involvement; I have just wanted us to be involved as Christians' (A Better Hope, 2001)

for more see 'stan the man: a throughly biased account of a completely unobjective person' by william cavanaugh (in The Hauerwas Reader, 2000), 'stanley hauerwas: where would we be without him' by mark thiessen nation (in Faithfulness and Fortitude, 2000), 'engaging stanley hauerwas' by l. gregory jones, reinhard hutter and c. rosalee velloso ewell (in God, Truth and Witness, 2005) and the many prefaces and introductions to hauerwas' many books.

ash wednesday and lent blogging

jim gordon is blogging some great stuff - jazz tapestry and Moltmann, more Hopeful Imagination....please! and at today's hopeful imagination lent blog he writes this Isaiah, Haiku and subversive no-saying

maggi as usual is offering us some great thoughts - giving up things for lent, size zero, lent, simplicty and stuff and angry monday

the grace lent blog kicks off again for the fifth year!

and I've designed 40 things for lent  for our young people and the wider church Download 40thingsforlent.pdf

count your blessings and other ideas for lent

Just discovered in today's Independent that one lady is planning to give up supermarkets for lent - now that's taking it seriously ...

Lent begins on Wednesday and I'm planning to try and give up chocolate. When you have a mars bar a day that's not easy! Anyway on to other things ...

1. Count your blessings is a guide for reflection, prayer and giving from christian aid - great thing to do with the family. Get a copy here

2. Lent blog at hopeful imagination. I'm hoping this will be better than last year's attempt. Lent is a lot harder to blog through than advent.

3. Lent Explorations - monday nights from 7-7.45pm at bunyan and every night through holy week

who's more important your doctor or your priest?

Stanley Hauerwas (from the St Petersberg Times)

People care more about who their doctor is today than who their priest or minister is. Most Christians live lives of practical atheism. ... Atheism isn't explicitly a denial of God, it's to live in a way that God does not matter.

more on Blood Diamond

This is a violent film, the wanton destruction of life I found difficult to watch. This is not the popcorn violence of Bad Boys 2 or Mr and Mrs Smith.  Having seen the film and now watching the news about a third murder in South London of a young person, you are left searching for answers. Surely the answer is not to open two more prisons. The recent stories of  African countries - Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Dafur, Zimbabwe are stories of violence, of senseless violence. How do we respond to this violence? Blood Diamond is not a horror film, but there is something horrific about scenes involving children playing soliders. Here we see children given the ability to take life, who are told that a gun will give them the respect.  Again this is the reality of some children's lives, and we encourage children to literally play games (the latest being a supposedly 'Christian' game). Brodie gives one way of responding.

Blood Diamond and films about Africa

Films about Africa, especially conflict and war are coming think and fast from Hollywood in recent years. We've had the Rwandian genocide (Hotel Rwanda, Shooting Dogs), pharmaceutical corruption in Kenya (The Constant Gardener), truth and reconciliation in South Africa (In My Country), the story of Ugandan Idi Amin (The Last King of Scotland), and civil war in Nigeria (Tears of the Sun). There was also Beyond Borders, about aid workers in Africa. Apart from the latter film, these films have been generally compelling and served as important reminders to us as the West of our moral failure as nations (especially in 1994 Rwanda). Blood Diamond is the latest and continues the trend. The backdrop to the story is the 1999 Sierra Leone Civil War. There are some great performances all round and the script is generally well written. Fernando writes a good review here. What other films have there been about Africa? Cry Freedom, the story of Steve Biko. The Power of One, about an English boy growing up in 1930s-1940s South Africa. I guess parts of Amistad and Black Hawk Down.

New Books for 2007 | John Colwell on The Rhythm of Doctrine

John Colwell has a new book coming out in April called The Rhythm of Doctrine: A Liturgical Sketch of Christian Faith and Faithfulness. The synopsis says:

Traditionally Systematic Theology is structured around the articles of the Creed: the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the Spirit, the doctrine of the Church, and so on. Whilst this approach has its benefits it is not without flaws. One weakness is that the roots and context of theology in Christian worship can be lost sight of and discussions can become abstract and disconnected from the life of faith. But there is another way to structure Systematic Theology, an approach more explicitly and self-consciously rooted the rhythm of the pattern of liturgy followed by most Christians for most of the years of the Church's history. In "The Rhythm of Doctrine", John Colwell provides a short, inspiring introduction to a Systematic Theology that is built around the worshipful rhythms of the Christian Year. Chapters include the one who comes (Advent); the One who takes our humanity (Christmas); the one who is revealed (Epiphany); the one who journeys to the cross (Lent); the one who lives and reigns (Easter); the one who indwells and transforms (Pentecost); and the one who invites us into communion ('All Saints Day'). In this ancient-future way Christian worship, theology and discipleship are woven into a seamless garment.

I'm a big fan of John's work, so I'm really looking forward to this book. His earlier books Living the Christian Story (2001) and Promise and Presence (2005) have shaped a lot my theology.

as we look around us ...

This is a prayer I wrote for this morning's service at Bunyan. The responses in bold I borrowed from Gathering to Worship.

From where we sit or kneel we look around us
and see the faces of friends and family, of neighbour and Christian
each face tells a story of life, just beginning or long lived
each face tells a story of laughter and sorrow
each face tells a story of love and hate, of joy and anger
each face tells a story of God and his grace

From where we sit or kneel we look around us and say
In the life of those we love and know
Your kingdom come, Lord
Your will be done

From where we sit or kneel we look around us
and see the streets and the houses
the flats and the shops
the schools and the offices
the parks and car parks
where we live and work, play and learn

We see a town of plenty
of money and abundance
families with dishwashers and TVs
with cars and mobile phones
with computers and holidays abroad

But we also see, if we look hard enough
a town in need
of homeless haven and living room of rehabilitation
of contact centre and ASBOs
of one night stands and young mums
of credit card debt and life-taking cancer

From where we sit or kneel we look around us and say
In the life of our town
Your kingdom come, Lord
Your will be done

From where we sit or kneel we look around us
and see the world
of presidents and peasants
of buildings and bombs
of deserts and forests
of greed and starvation
of banks and poverty
of fast food and no food
of death and living

We see the people
of Keembe, Zambia
of Kadoma, Zimbabwe
of Tabora, Tanzania
of Bagwere, Uganda
of Baghdad, Iraq
of Gaza, Palestine
of Dafur, Sudan

From where we sit or kneel we look around us and say
In the life of our world
Your kingdom come, Lord
Your will be done

does Jesus love Osama?

This story from ekklesia about a baptist church in australia which has used the slogan 'Jesus loves Osama' on billboards is interesting. I like its provocative nature and I think it makes a challenging theological point. I'm not sure what the goal of the sign is. Is this a good idea?